Urgent call to Dutch Minister of Finance: please prevent the unbridled export of EU personal data!
Friday, 24 May 2019 Financial Privacy & PSD2
The Dutch Ministry of Finance is about to oblige companies to export personal data on a large scale. The measure is hidden in a subordinate clause of a letter from the Minister of Finance, although it has major consequences. The measure obliges companies that trade in 'virtual assets' (such as bitcoins, real estate, but also purchases in computer games) to include personal data of customers in the transaction records and messages. The information from all parties involved needs to remain visible and available to everyone in the value chain. Consumers, companies and citizens cannot object to this mandatory addition of their personal data. The topic is not receiving the proper amount of political attention because it is presented as a…
The Dutch citizenry has rejected the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act. This act will now have the be amended. If not, legal action will be pursued. Historic red line Wednesday 21 March 2018 is a historic day: for the first time ever, the populace of a nation has spoken out against a law on intelligence services in a referendum. In this referendum, the Dutch had the chance to cast their ballots on the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act, better known as the ‘Tapping law’. By now, it is known that a clear majority is AGAINST the law. Privacy First considers this as a historic victory and hopes that, as a result, similar developments will unfold in…
Below, in alphabetical order, are Privacy First’s main objections against the new Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act (Wiv2017, or ‘Tapping law’): A. Authority to hack Under the new law, the Dutch intelligence services will be able to hack a target through innocent third parties. By hacking a third party (for example an aunt, a sister, a friend, a husband, a grandfather, a colleague, a neighbour, a public authority, a company, etc.), information can be obtained about the target. In other words, any devices of innocent citizens may be hacked by the intelligence services. Citizens will never be notified about this, as there is no duty to inform. C. Chilling effectThe new law may result in people behaving differently (either…
IRMA and ‘referendum students’ win Dutch Privacy Awards In the context of the National Privacy Conference organized by Privacy First and ECP, today the very first Dutch Privacy Awards have been awarded. These Awards offer a podium to companies and governments that consider privacy as an opportunity to positively distinguish themselves and want privacy-friendly entrepreneurship and innovation to become a benchmark. The great winner of the 2018 Dutch Privacy Awards is IRMA (I Reveal My Attributes). The students who organized the Dutch referendum about the controversial Tapping law received the incentive prize. Winner: IRMA (I Reveal my Attributes) IRMA (I Reveal my Attributes) is a state of the art, open source identity platform which allows users to authenticate themselves by…
Privacy First New Year’s column Looking back on 2016, Privacy First perceives a renewed attack on our democratic constitutional State from within. Incident-driven politics based on the everyday humdrum prevails and the Dutch government’s frenzy efforts to control the masses is relentless, arrogant and driven by industry and political lobbying. The democratic principles of our constitutional State are being lost out of sight ever more while the reversion of legal principles has become commonplace. Every (potential) attack thus becomes an attack on our civil rights. Current constitutional State unable to defend itself Barely a single day has gone past in the current mediacracy and governors without any historical or cultural awareness hand us, our children and our future over to…
NCTV Director Cyber Security: "Right balance with privacy needed"
Tuesday, 06 November 2012 Meta-Privacy
The Privacy First Foundation organises networking drinks on a regular basis, inviting a prominent speaker around a topical issue. In September this year we organised a night with the Head of the AIVD, the Dutch Intelligence and Security Service. On 22 October we invited a speaker from the cyber security scene, namely Wil van Gemert, Director of Cyber Security at the NCTV, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security, part of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice. Investigative journalist Brenno de Winter was asked to moderate the discussion. Click HERE for the invitation to our network (in Dutch). Would you also like to receive our invitations from now on? Email us! Below is a translated summary of Mr. Van Gemert's speech…
On 22 October 2012 our next networking drink around a topical issue will take place at the Privacy First office in the former building of de Volkskrant newspaper in Amsterdam. As a follow-up to the recent lecture by the Head of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) Rob Bertholee, we have invited Wil van Gemert to further expand on the theme of cyber security. Mr. Van Gemert is Director Cyber Security of the NCTV, the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism and he will prepare a lecture at the interface of security and privacy in cyberspace. What exactly is cyber security and what are the current challenges and problems in this area? What role does the government fulfil…
Head of Dutch Intelligence: "I'm not in favour of Big Brother"
Thursday, 20 September 2012 Meta-Privacy
The Privacy First Foundation regularly organises networking drinks combined with informational sessions for our volunteers, donors and experts from our network of journalists, scientists, jurists and people working in ICT. Since July 2011, these events are organised about every three months and take place at the Privacy First office in the former building of de Volkskrant newspaper in Amsterdam. Themes discussed so far have been privacy in the Netherlands (speaker: Bart de Koning), biometrics (Max Snijder) and profiling by the government (Quirine Eijkman and André Hoogstrate). There were also book presentations by Dimitri Tokmetzis (De digitale schaduw – The digital shadow) and Adriaan Bos (Advocaat van de waarheid – Advocate of the truth). On Thursday night 13 September this year, we had…
As of 2 October 2012, the new Dutch National Human Rights Institute (College voor de Rechten van de Mens, CRM) will open its doors. Recently the Institute under formation established the essential pillars of its policy for the coming years, namely 1) care for the elderly, 2) immigrants and 3) discrimination on the labor market. However, of all human rights, in recent years the right to privacy is worst off in the Netherlands. Contrary to the above mentioned pillars (that concern vulnerable groups of people), the right to privacy appertains to anyone who finds him or herself on Dutch soil. In essence this has turned the entire Dutch population into a vulnerable group, especially in comparison to the situation in…
On June 11, 2012, the long-awaited National Privacy Debate took place in The Hague. Privacy First summarizes the most noteworthy aspects for you, starting with the striking plea (in Dutch) for a Privacy Delta Plan by Brenno de Winter: "The National Privacy Debate is a unique opportunity to start something beautiful and to challenge people into engaging in open discussion. Let us seize this opportunity and work on a Delta Plan. To make the Netherlands a guiding country again. A model for the rule of law as to the protection of the citizen. That's what we are best at!" The floor was then given to Anthony House (Google), who at the end of his keynote speech posed the following question to the audience: “Are the principles…
